Vibe Magazine Issue 04

VIBE

ISSUE 4

May 2012

REGULARSS

Style

8

Green Impact

9

Music Reviews

10

Theatre

14

Grace McEwen talks about the chunky heel for the every woman.

FEATURESS Life at Pontins

Sarah Ellis explains about NUS and Green Impact and what we can do to make a better tomorrow.

David Kay gives us his reviews on the latest tunes, hitting us right in the ear drums soon, with a new star ratings system too.

Can We Blame The Media For Everything?

Beth Stacey gives an update on whats happening in local theatres, while Sian Holmes talks about the recent production of ‘Avenue Q’ the adult Muppets.

A Day In The Life 17

Claire Unwin gives us more of her goings on in a day in her life as a PR student.

Sport

20

Adam Bond talks about what the future holds for the ENgland football team, while Stephen Carey lets us remmeber that tragic day of the Hillsborough Disaster.

The USA vs. Democracy

3

WELCOME Hello, Welcome to the final issue of Vibe for this academic year, a massive thanks to everyone who has wrote for it so far and got it up and running, especially Dan Lindsay for helping to collate and design every magazine thus far.

Since this could also possibly be the last thing you’ll read from me as President of the Students’ Union before Elliott takes over in July I’d like to thank everybody involved in everything the SU has been part of this year, whether you are staff, an external or most importantly a student. It’s been a true honour, and I have loved it, but we couldn’t have achieved anything without all of you.

The SU will continue to grow and develop and do more for you, and my role as President has just been a small part of that, I’m excited to see what the SU can do next year.

Enjoy the final magazine, and remember if you’d like to write for the magazine just to email me at supresident@edgehill.ac.uk Many thanks, Colin

Editor-in-Chief

Colin Gibson

Lead Designer

Dan C Lindsay

Design Team

Sean Worrall Dan Cameron Carl Lyne-ly Contributers: Brett Hackett, Grace McEwan, Sarah Ellis, David Kay, Daniel Murphy, Sian Holmes, Beth Stacey, Claire Unwin, Jack Unwin, Adam Bond, Stephen Carey

VIBE

Contact: Edge Hill Students’ Union St Helens Road Ormskirk L394QP www.edgehillsu.org.uk 01695657301

(c) Edge Hill Students’ Union.

The views expressed by contributers and correspondants are their own and responsibility for the contents rests soley with themselves.

PONTINS

Istay t’s been the same thing all year for us folks who opted to at the Pontins Holiday Camp in Southport. We always

get the same look of bizarre curiosity when we tell them, as if it were some sort of hostel. “Oh you’re staying at Pontins?

What’s that like?” “Oh, Pontins..” “Pontins park, the one with Captain Croc?”

Then, more recently, my uni lecturer bursting out laughing when I told him I had to grab something from my ‘chalet’.

Even my grandparents cracked a joke or two about it, although they’ve tried to convince me that I should stay there next year (obviously just want me to sort them out with cheap holidays). It has been a surprising state of affairs for us living there, none of us expected in a million years to be given this option, and to be perfectly honest my last memory of Pontins (being taken there when I was 12 years old) wasn’t exactly a pleasant one.

Yes, the last time I’d been to Pontins I was a lot younger and had stayed in Pontins Pakefield resort. Ironically that’s supposed to be the best one, but according to my Grandparents the young me did nothing but moan, whinge, and cry about how rubbish it was the whole time. I suppose that’s what you get for taking a 10 year old to the Florida Disney Land resort the year before then trying to make him enjoy a two week stay at Pontins the year after.

So how to rate it now? Well, being older, a first year uni student, and having fore-knowledge about the amount of life-strangling debt you’re going to be in anyway does help you set the bar lower for your living standards. We all knew it wasn’t going to be a five star resort, and to be honest it’s not too bad.

But those horror stories didn’t help did they? For those who don’t remember, Pontins was (to put it nicely) circling the drain just a year or so ago. Its Brean Sands park was featured on BBC’s poor trade shaming programme Watchdog for its abysmal living standards. That alongside online reviews of our future homes at Southport proclaiming it to be a cesspit, gave those of us aware that we were going to be actually living there very low expectations.

So, I moved into my chalet in September. Hoping my shared room wasn’t covered in some horrific mould that had been growing since the 1960s and that I’d be able to reasonably

live inside the place. To my surprise, it was in fact habitable. Me and my room-mate moved our cutlery into the kitchen and our clothes and essentials into each of our separate bedrooms and set ourselves up with a nice little T.V. The place was clean (*cough*), had working hot water, a cooker and all the various essentials. The things it was missing were a freezer, toaster, and microwave.

Something future students choosing to live there may have to think about. Not to mention that the coaches to and from the uni that were free for us this year, won’t be free for the students choosing to stay there next year.

It was during that time in September Pontins became home to over 200 students filling at least 3 to 4 blocks of chalets, and like students do, we celebrated the whole time. It was possibly the most excitement the park had seen in years, every block was throwing a party of some sort and on each block some poor student’s chalet was getting filled up for what were basically unprompted parties. The students living at Pontins really took the whole ‘holiday park’ atmosphere, it stayed like this for almost a fortnight.

On the first week we were introduced to a man now affectionately known as husky Mark, purely for his northern accent tinged with the husky rasp of a man with a bit of a bad case of a sore throat.

We were already sold really, they put out free food for us from Pontins’ restaurant that wasn’t too bad. Especially considering we were all fresh out of our family homes and probably all very novice cooks. We got the run-down on how to behave, health and safety, etc. But we also selected some student reps for our camp. Those student reps have gone on to set up more than a few nights out especially for Pontins and sorted us with more than a few good deals on booze for the party people among our camps.

Speaking of partying, Pontins also opened up to us the now legendary / infamous Lunars! Every Thursday the camp sorted our lot a DJ and cheap drinks (for the first month or so, they went back to normal price towards Christmas). The amount of alcohol and general mischief caused at Lunars is something I doubt any of us staying there are going to forget in a hurry.

So, we had our reps, we had Lunars every thursday, we had all

Chronicles of First Year Living

PONTINS

Written By Brett Hackett

met some pretty lovely people too, all within the first three weeks. Not too bad, right?

After September I moved in a 32 inch telly from back home and began to get homely in my chalet. We all took full advantage of the free electricity and heating (unlimited, included in the cost of rent). Also included in our fee was the T.V licence, which suited a lot of us nicely, especially towards the end of the year when (purely at the students request) Pontins set up digital free view. It had for someone living a good five hour journey from home, became a home away from home. I couldn’t complain with my set-up, I had all my comforts bar one.

Yes, the one major let down from Pontins was a compromise for our internet usage. Although we were originally promised free wi-fi, we were instead offered internet dongles from Orange (all unlimited usage) under a fifty pound deposit. They’ve done the job fine for using the internet sure, despite being incredibly slow, but it’s a missing touch that students have needed.

The end of the year approached and we’d all settled into a nice little routine. Studying for our degrees and adjusting to life at Pontins, Southport. It’d been a laid back life for us. We’d been living by the sea, the wonderful northern coast that overlooks Blackpool (which, lit up at night, definitely makes it worthwhile) and we’d been looked after in a sheltered environment, not having to worry about anything more than the occasional holiday-maker who’d had too much to drink (which were always swiftly sorted by security). We could even leave our stuff their during the semester breaks, which was helpful for people like me living miles away.

Of course there were some issues. Not all of the chalets were as nice as mine, some needed some definite attention and it’s been something that’s been put forward more than once (now sorted, they gave us new sofas). Being offered deals at the bars then having them disappear in weeks to come, a minor but slight annoyance for students as well as the internet issues.

Honorable mention has to go to the Pontins Student’s Facebook Page also, which has solved so many problems at the site, and helped us organize more than a few nights out (and has also been home to more than a bit of student banter). This is thanks to our student reps who have always worked hard with the staff to ensure we had the best experience we could. VIBE

Christmas came, time came to pass and we all came back in January, filling up the blocks once again with students and eventually, holiday makers. Yes, we’ve seen some amazingly weird (and amazing) things at our stay here. Just a few examples: - 48 hour parties. People from all over came to do 60s swing dance in Pontins and didn’t stop for the whole weekend, I saw one woman in the supermarket still in her party dress shaking while eating a chocolate bar at one point.

- Watching Blackpool’s fireworks from the sand dunes next to the beach. It’s literally a two a minute walk from us, so we made the most of it – we managed to catch Blackpool’s and Ormskirk’s display and Pontins even put on a display of it’s own.

- The legend that is Dazza who’s been assisting the students from the start. Not to mention the security guards, lifeguards, and general staff who’ve been helping us out with whatever we’ve needed.

- The biker’s convention, a group that were probably the most relaxed and easy-going of all the people who’ve been putting on weekend events. Don’t think anyone wanted a tattoo from them mind.

-

The beach in general. It’s a definite perk.

STYLE

Style Dilemma Written By Grace McEwan

Ebyvery woman – and man – knows that high heels are sexy. They give women confidence, boost their height a few inches and give them good, ladylike posture. Buying a brand new pair is the antidote to a bad day or

a break-up. When I think of heels, I get a vision in my mind of a wonderfully pointy pair with a six inch, pencil thin stiletto. ‘Aaah, so beautiful’. However, a new type of heel is making its way quickly up the style ladder, and pretty soon it’ll be joining our bursting shoe collections: the chunky heel.

Now, I have to admit, I’ve not always been a huge fan of the high heel. Don’t get me wrong, they’re great for a night out, when such pain is expected to be endured by a woman. For the daytime, though?

No way. They may make you look about ten times better than you’d do without them, but six inch stiletto heels are like chocolate when you’re on a diet; it looks SO good, but then once you’ve taken a bite, you’re doomed. High heels have rarely been comfy, feet-friendly shoes – until now.

Once I noticed these chunkier designs popping up all over the spring catwalk, I knew something big was happening. What they may lack in terms of elegance, they certainly make up for in style and quirkiness. And, let’s face it, a high heel we can survive the night, or even the day in? Bring it on. VIBE

IMPACT

Green Impact Written By Sarah Ellis

Gawards reen Impact Students’ Unions is an environmental accreditation programme which students’ unions. Set up by NUS in 2006 (originally called Sound Environmental

Impact Awards), Green Impact has gone from strength to strength, engaging more students’ unions each year, making sure they are taking their environmental impact seriously.

Students’ Unions can gain either working towards accreditation, bronze, silver or gold awards. In 2011 EHSU achieved working towards accreditation. Whilst this was a good foundation for us, we wanted to do better and set precedence for environmental change on campus.

This year we ran numerous projects and campaigns with our own sabbatical officers, staff team and most importantly student volunteers. These projects ranged from supporting the University in its Fairtrade Fortnight to planting 350 trees in Coronation Park in Ormskirk. We changed the way we work in the offices, ensuring everyone recycles, turns off electronics and thinks before printing!

Charlotte Bonner, Green Impact Development Manager from NUS said: “It’s fabulous to see Edge Hill do so well in Green Impact Students’ Unions this year. They’ve taken full advantage of our new scheme for non-commercial unions. This, alongside their newly refurbished efficient building mean they really are doing their bit to reduce their Green Impact whilst giving some great opportunities to their students as well. Keep up the good work!”

So our hard work paid off! This year, we have earned enough points to gain a Gold award; the highest award achievable in Green Impact. This will be formally awarded to us at an NUS Awards evening in April. We are extremely proud of our achievement and hope we can set an example staff and students alike about being greener. VIBE

MUSIC Rihanna – Where Have You Been Twell, alk That Talk, Rihanna’s sixth album, yes SIXTH, started off very with the smash We Found Love becoming her third million selling single in the UK and topping the charts worldwide, and was one of her best singles in her impressive cannon. Sadly, she followed it with one of her weakest singles ever, You Da One, which was one of her worst performing songs, and didn’t even make the top 10. Following that, she then released Talk That Talk with Jay-Z, but didn’t promote or do a video for it, so it too didn’t do very well.

Then she controversially released an extended version of Birthday Cake with her ex, Chris Brown, which also didn’t set the charts alight.

The fifth single Where Have You Been is a definite step in the right direction, one of the clear standouts on the relatively poor album.

The club banger is a sort of more advanced version of her classic Don’t Stop The Music, featuring instable breakdowns and boasts an anthemic chorus. The buzzy electronic track, produced by Calvin Harris, will have partygoers fist pumping and raving the summer away. VIBE

The Saturdays – 30 Days (To Love) Iakan just under four years, Mollie, Una, Rochelle, Frankie and Vanessa The Saturdays have clocked up an impressive 10 top 10 singles,

but never quite managed a #1 hit, despite reaching the #2 spot twice. They hold the record for most top 10 and most top 5 singles without a #1. 30 Days (To Love) is their thirteenth single, which could prove to be lucky for the girls.

The song itself is a standard ‘Saturdays’ single, fun, with lots of personality, and far more ‘poppier’ than their last offerings Notorious and All Fired Up, which were more dance orientated. At the same time however, the song wouldn’t sound out of place in a club, with its fresh production and catchy chorus, it has a real summer vibe about it. It could do with being slightly longer however, but there will surely be a club mix or two.

The video for the song features the girls in a diner, taking part in a spot of speed dating. Bright, colourful and bursting with personality, including a reference to Una recently becoming a mum, the girls have never looked better.

With a pencilled in release date of 30th April, the song is sure to be a summer hit and with little competition that week, it could prove 13th time lucky for the UK’s unluckiest girl group. VIBE

MUSIC

Music Reviews Written By David Kay

Nicki Minaj – Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded

N icki Minaj is fast becoming one of the world’s biggest and brightest female artists. Her wacky multiple personalities, brightly

coloured wigs and eccentric outfits combined with her many collaborations with some of music’s leading stars have propelled her onto iPod’s and the charts around the world, and if you have only just discovered her, the second album from Minaj is a brilliant place to start. Roman Reloaded offers a whopping 19 tracks (22 if you go for the deluxe edition) and while that initially screams overkill, after a couple of listens you find that it is mainly killer, and very little filler. In a way, the album is essentially 2 EP’s that supplement her debut album, Pink Friday, thus making the album an album of two halves; a hip-hop/rap side and a pop/dance side.

Fans of either genre will find something worth listening to, as there are enough tracks to create your own version of the album, while if you like both genres, listen to it as it comes.

The first half of the album is predominantly urban, featuring Mianj’s signature quick rapping in strange accents, and collaborations from the genre’s biggest acts, including Lil Wayne, Drake and Nas. The lead track, Roman Holiday, is from the perspective of Roman and his mother, Martha, two figments of Nicki’s personality. The track was infamously performed at this year’s Grammy Awards, which included her taking part in a supposed live exorcism and being tied to a cross. A memorable chorus delivered in one of Minaj’s trademark rap styles, her British accent, and a breakdown sampling the hymn Come All Ye Faithful create an intense opening song for the album. Other standouts include Champion, featuring Nas, Drake and Young Jeezy, Minaj raps about her struggles on the way up to the top, over a marching beat, and her fellow Young Money member Drake adds his usual charm with his unique raps.

The second single, Right By My Side, features Chris Brown, and is the natural successor to the popular, Right Thru Me off the original album.

The second half of the album starts with the quintuple whammy of electro pop smashes featuring production from the man behind the success of some of Lady Gaga’s biggest hits, Red One. Each one is a club banger, which can sound similar, but each one has something different to offer. Starships is the lead single for the album. The electro-pop single has been popular, with fun rhyming raps, fresh production, sing-along style chorus and euphoric

mechanical breakdowns causes the song to sound like nothing else around. Pound The Alarm, while a similar track to Starships, is just as intensely ridiculous, with an even fiercer breakdown. While it is a club anthem, it manages to avoid being generic, and will probably be more popular than songs with similar themes.

Whip It is a summery song, with a thumping beat, is one of the stand outs on the album, sounding like an old school dance classic.

Automatic features a dub step breakdown, and would make a good single, while Beautiful Sinner has Minaj singing instead of rapping, and is similar to Turn Me On, her collaboration with David Guetta, which is also included as a bonus track on the Deluxe Edition. While the songs sound similar, electro pop fans will love all five of the tracks, each having pulsating beats that are perfect for the clubs, ridiculous raps and insanely memorable choruses, which need to be played loud, and will surely be the soundtrack for the summer.

Marilyn Monroe is a swift change in style following the five electro smashes, and is an inspirational ballad constructed around the famous Monroe quote, “If you can’t handle me at my worst/you don’t deserve me at my best”, Minaj relates her life and fame to that of Monroe’s. While it does sound generic on paper, it is a surprise that a song like it has never been done before. A radio friendly track, which would pose as a good single, as it shows a different, softer side to Minaj.

Other album highlights include Young Forever and Fire Burns, both are chilled out easy listening R&B jams, featuring Minaj singing again. The bonus track Va Va Voom is also a standout, similar to last year’s hit Super Bass, featuring fast rap verses and anthemic, sing-along style chorus, and should have been included on the standard album. The weakest track is easily Stupid Hoe, the buzz track for the album, it is just annoying noise, and should have been kept as a buzz track.

All in all, the album is a fantastic second album, with the second half being especially strong. It should cement Nicki Minaj as one of the leading pop stars of today, up there with the likes of Rihanna, Katy Perry and Lady Gaga. Her personality shines throughout, the raps are as quirky as ever, and she is spoilt for choice with choosing singles to release, as virtually any of the songs would make a fantastic choice. VIBE

MEDIA

Can We Blame The Media For Everything?

Written By Daniel Murphy

Tcertain he media is literally everywhere today; it is almost that every person will engage with some kind of

media in their day, whether it is updating Twitter, reading the latest news or seeing the newest films. With it being possible to access the internet and social networks at any given moment on your phone, global information can be found within minutes. Being in the public eye also has a certain amount of backlash today, with privacy not really being an option when you are famous, and it is becoming increasingly easier for the public to find out things such as how Whitney Houston died or why Tulisa’s sex tape was broadcasted. In a media- savvy society where certain aspects of the media appear to be influential on those that view it, it also comes under a lot of scrutiny for being having too much of an influence. Reading numerous articles on how heavy metal music and playing too much GTA can manipulate someone’s thinking to the extreme, the question is does media really have this much of an impact?

Body image is one of the main issues that the media is constantly under fire for. It seems to be that there is so much more pressure now to look your best at all times, and being over a certain weight can only be seen as a bad thing. The media is one of the key suspects in creating an image that is seen as the ‘way to look’, however there is a lot more to it than just that. Seeing a ‘perfect’ person on an advert for a clothing line or on your favourite TV programme is enough to make anyone slightly envious, but is the media the problem for taking this one step further?

Violence is also an issue that media is seen to be blamed for due to the nature of some films, video games and music. Events such as the tragic Columbine shootings saw Marilyn Manson and ‘goth’ culture be named as major influences on the shooters, which were examined in the Michael Moore documentary, Bowling

for Columbine. Names such as Grand Theft Auto, which were intended for a bit of fun, are now constantly portrayed in a negative way, with the reason being that they are the influence on the increase in violence.

It is definitely more complex than just a ‘yes/ no’ answer, but personally I think that although the media can play a part, it is not the entire problem.

Yes, the media has the power to exploit views such as ‘skinny is best’ and continue to show violence and push more boundaries in films and video games, but there can also be counter arguments for each of these issues. In terms of body image insecurity, it is shown that young females are most vulnerable to suffering from anorexia and eating disorders, with the emphasis being on slim celebrities and their influence. There is also the recognition that there can be another type of role model. Female celebrities such as Beyoncé and Adele, who are portrayed as curvier women, are looked at usually in a more positive way than a female celebrity who was bordering on underweight.

Also, in terms of violent video games and films, it can be said that these are solely meant for entertainment rather than portray reality. If these were entirely to blame for violence in today’s society, there would be a great deal more than there is already. This is just a brief look into how influential media can be to some people, but also how having so much power and influence can have a negative effect on the credibility of such media products and people. It must also be taken into consideration that there are other underlying factors which allow an individual to act the way they do, it is more intricate than using media as the reason. VIBE

MEDIA

THEATRE

Avenue Q Written By Siân Holmes

Iwell-mannered magine the Muppets. You think of Kermit and his friends. All polite, and sociable in conversation, with topics about

happiness and the sensible things in life. Now, imagine the total opposite, a group of impolite, scruffy bunch of unsociable characters that talk uncontrollably about sex, porn and the elements of life that should be kept behind closed doors, while breaking into song every three minutes.

I give you! Avenue Q! Avenue Q is a musical that consists of seven actors who are four puppeteers and three human characters, with seven main puppets and numerous extras to bring in a sense of living on an American Avenue.

The hit musical, currently touring the country, was given an age certification of 12 after the adult content was too visual for anyone under the stated age limit, which brings us to the popular debate of should we shield our children to keep their young minds safe and innocent. I would say that the age certification might be a good idea as the last thing any parent wants is the awkward question of “what are the puppets doing?” if you get my drift.

The songs throughout the show are tasteful and to myself not heard of. A friend I went with said that the songs were based back in the late 80’s early 90’s so really unrecognisable to the modern day audience but still very catchy and relevant to the narrative. The narrative was about a bunch of lovable, hopeless characters that live on a downtown street in New York who are all tackling life’s main issues of love, work and relationships but mainly how do you pay the bills with a university debt and a BA HONS in English.

With brilliant music and an amazing narrative Avenue Q is a show that can be enjoyed by anyone over the age certification, as it gives you the giggles while giving you a hard hitting conclusion. You should find your purpose for seeing this amazing show and go.

Visit www.avenueqthemusical.co.uk to see where they are next or you’ll regret missing this great opportunity. VIBE

THEATRE

Theatre News and Goings On

Full Les Mis Cast – Anne Hathaway crash diet L

Written By Beth Stacey

es Miserables is the second longest running musical in the world with over 15,000 performances to its name. The show has played in 43 countries in 21 languages and in December this year, the film is due to be released, directed

by Tom Hooper (The King’s Speech). The film is currently being shot in England and France and the final cast list is sure to impress.

Hugh Jackman as Jean Valjean, Russell Crowe as Javert, Anne Hathaway as Fantine, Sacha Baron Cohen as Thenardier, Daniel Huttlestone as Gavroche, Helena Bonham Carter as Madame Thenardier, Amanda Seyfried as Cosette, Eddie Redmayne as Marius, Samantha Barks as Eponine, Aaron Tveit as Enjolras. There will also be cameo appearances by Colm Wilkinson as the Bishop of Digne and Frances Ruffelle (original Eponine).

Anne Hathaway, playing Fantine, is currently on a crash diet of 500 calories per day to become the “waif-like” single mother who eventually dies of consumption and the first pictures of Jackman as Valjean have been released.

Bickering delays Spice Girls musical

Viva Forever, the upcoming Spice Girls musical, is suffering delays due to bickering between the five girls, according to The New York Post. Apparently script writer Jennifer Saunders has been driven ‘crazy’ by Mel C and Mel B who are disagreeing over details, preventing the productions development. Meanwhile, Geri Halliwell has kept a low profile due to her new reality TV show with Sky Living and Victoria Beckham has been concentrating on her fashion line.

The story is based on a young girl who is taken to a talent competition by her mother. The show was due to premiere early 2013.

Wonderland: The Trials of Alice

E‘Wonderland: dge Hill University Students present The Trials of Alice’ by Edge of Your Seat Productions in association with Edge Theatre at the Studio Theatre. Alice returns to Wonderland, for the final time, only this time, Wonderland is NOT as it once was. VIBE

Friday, 25th May 2012, 7:30pm Saturday, 26th May 2012, 7:30pm

Let It Be: A Tribute To The Musicals

A Beatles Tribute musical is due to open at The Prince of Wales Theatre between September 14th to 19th January in between the closing of Mamma Mia and the opening of The Book of Mormon. The show will feature some of the Beatles favourite hits including ‘A Hard Day’s Night’, ‘Sgt. Pepper’ and ‘Hey Jude’. The show begins by recreating the band’s debut appearance in 1964 on the Ed Sullivan Show and will feature band photos, faux press conferences and various other footage. VIBE

Liverpool Empire

TonhisSunday month starts off with Elvis Costello: The Revolver Tour 13th May. He arrives following an acclaimed run

in America where the high-demand tour was extended by three months. The LA Times described the show as ‘the kind of uniquely invigorating experience that warrants a buzzword all of its own; inspiring.’

The sounds of Motown will be gracing the Empire with the musical Dancing in the Streets between Monday 14th and Saturday 19th May. Featuring the legendary classics Tracks of my Tears, I Heard It Through The Grapevine and My Girl, award winning director Keith Starchan has decided to take it on tour after a wonderful three-year run in the West End.

And finally the hit musical, Sister Act, is arriving on Tuesday 22nd May to Saturday 2nd June 2012. After a stunning stint at the Palladium in West End and a hit on Broadway, the show is touring featuring Denise Black and Michael Starke.

Produced by Whoopi Goldberg and Stage Entertainment the five-time nominated show, based on the film of the same name, features stunning songs, dance and costume! VIBE

Everyman and Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool

Tbrought he astonishing tale of the life of Mary Shelley is to the Everyman and Playhouse Theatre from Wednesday 9th – 12th May.

Between Friday 25th – Saturday 23rd June, Alan Ayckbourn’s The Norman Conquests visits the theatre.

A trilogy of three plays, Table Manners, Living Together and Round and Round the Garden can be seen individually or as a special theatrical event on one of the five Trilogy Days - 14+ only.

Prices Prices at The Rose can vary between £4 and £11 and concessionary prices are available to students with valid ID. Alternatively you can buy a season ticket for around £20 which provides you with four tickets usable for most of the shows. Tickets can be booked online, by phone or at the Box Office.

Tickets for the Empire Theatre can vary between £10£50 and the Everyman varies between £10-£25. VIBE

PR

A Day in The Life: PR STUDENT Written By Claire Unwin

All of the 3rd year PR girls who headed the campaign. From left: Jess Cooper, Emma Allison, Claire Unwin, Alicia Beesley, Holly Windsor.

Ais llthegood things must come to an end, and unfortunately this case for the PR students who have been working with

children’s charity Kind over the past 5 months. The Kind PR team have worked hard on the campaign and the results we’ve achieved as a team have been amazing, everyone who has been involved with making the campaign a success should be very proud. The group as a whole have managed to publicise the charity enormously, and coverage has been spread throughout Liverpool newspapers such as The Echo, to more local press such as The Ormskirk Advertiser. Also with 2 radio appearances organised, getting Kind’s name out there has definitely been achieved!

For one last bid to raise funds for the charity, the team held a stall at Stanley Park festival for 3 days, which raised invaluable profits for the charity, any donations for the charity contribute massively to the rebuilding of their health and wellbeing centre, so every penny collected made a difference.

Throughout the duration of the campaign, students have also been focusing on increasing the charity’s online presence. The Twitter and facebook account setup for the charity has gained a lot of followers and proved a vital way to publicise and inform people of the campaign’s progress. Combined with the success of the 2 books stall we’ve held, it’s safe to say that Kind PR should definitely give themselves a pat on the back.

It has been a great experience for everyone and hopefully everyone can take away a deeper understanding of how a PR campaign works. Being a final year, it has been a stressful time but working on this campaign has offered me great insight and confirms to me that I definitely want to pursue PR as a career.

To find out what impact the campaign has had on some of the other members of the team; I asked them what working with Kind was like for them.

Sophie Cain worked as part of the networking group; this is what she had to say about her role within the campaign: “My tasks included researching current networking events in and around Liverpool that we could possibly attend. I also researched the possibility of having a market stall in the area, or a ‘pop-up’ shop. I was also involved with the social networking group, in which I helped with the charity’s Twitter account, creating and updating tweets and urging followers to re-tweet us. I also launched a competition on Twitter, offering the prize of an Easter egg to the 300th follower. This was to help us attain more followers and to gain some recognition. I particularly enjoyed this task as it gave me an insight into other areas of the campaign, the tasks my fellow students had been working on and what they were trying to achieve. As a group, we teamed up with a cast member of Desperate Scousewives - Danny Latimer. He visited the university and helped us promote and sell birthday books and raffle tickets at our KIND stall. I also helped promote and sell the books around the university during the day. Overall I have enjoyed all aspects of the campaign, especially when working with members of the public. I have learned that social networking can be extremely effective when promoting a campaign, as it has allowed us to reach a large number of people on a regular basis” Tom Hart has also enjoyed working on this campaign, and reflects on how it has been for him: “It is coming to the end of my first year of my PR degree at Edge Hill, and for this past semester, I have worked on a live campaign for the Charity KIND. This has given me the opportunity to learn new PR skills and to develop my existing skills. It has also given me some valuable experience of working on a real campaign, before actually graduating. To aid productivity as a group, we each focused our work specifically on one particular area of the campaign. My role was in the media coverage team, and our aims were to get as much relevant media coverage for KIND as possible, in order to raise awareness of the charity. I worked with four fellow

PR students, who each had some previous experience of writing for the media. To begin, we compiled a list of media contacts, which we used throughout the campaign when sending out various press releases and other media information. I feel we have worked very well as a group and we have achieved over and above our aims. We have appeared on an online TV station, 7 Waves radio station and have had a slot on BBC Radio Merseyside. We have also appeared in several print publications such as the Liverpool Echo, The Ormskirk Advertiser, Family Go Live magazine, plus other local online news resources. Being a part of this live campaign has really helped me gain confidence and I feel it has let me develop my writing and communication skills, ready to start my second year of university. I have really enjoyed my time working with the second and third year students and I feel we have worked very well as a team” Each third year student has been focusing on one part of the campaign, and this is what I overall think has driven to the success of the campaign. Jess has been running the networking team: “From the first event to the last event the team have all worked extremely and have so much enthusiasm for the charity and the days themselves. We have had a very successful press launch that took place at the BBC Radio Merseyside. In which a number of the local school children showed their continued support and also had

the opportunity to promote the charity on Kind’s own radio slot.

From this press launch we also received additional publicity in the Liverpool Echo. We have also had a brilliant opportunity to have a stall at the Liverpool Spectacular event. This was a fantastic day and allowed us to interact with a number of different spectators and also to raise even more vital funds for KIND. The day was something that the team will never forget because of the generosity that was shown by the supporters of Liverpool. The day was made even more special because of the atmosphere of the community section to the event. The promotion of KIND was widely spread and everyone felt that the day was a huge success” It’s good to know that the campaign ran well and all of our efforts paid off for the charity. We wish them all the best in the future, and would like to thank Vibe Magazine for allowing us to talk about Kind. Spread the KINDness and keep in touch with us on twitter/facebook @kindliverpool VIBE

Above: Children playing at the Kind centre (Back Canning St. Liverpool)

USA

The USA vs. Democracy Written By Jack Unwin

Stheincehyperpower the end of the Second World War, the United States has been of the world (the USSR was a superpower, though

with a much shorter reach than the US). Whilst advocating their belief in freedom and democracy the United States has instead fervently fought against it, partly due to the supposed threat of the Soviet Union, and partly because of their strong desire to maintain world hegemony.

It might have escaped your attention that the current nation that is on the receiving end of the US’s ire is Iran. A theocratic regime which is apparently developing nuclear weapons to threaten Israel (itself a theocratic regime with 200-400 nuclear warheads, illegally obtained and never investigated). Iran during WWII was occupied by allied troops (it was in Iran Stalin, Roosevelt & Churchill first met). After the war, Iran managed to be friendly with both the USSR and the US. This ended in 1951 when popular leader Muhammad Mossadegh made the disastrous mistake of nationalising British oil, this was a step too far for the British & Americans, how dare the Iranians attempt to claim a stake in their own oil! Mossadegh was deposed in a coup orchestrated by the CIA in 1953, he was replaced by the Shah. They US also trained the Shah’s notorious security forces SAVAK. John Barry for The Daily Beast in December 2007 describes watching a SAVAK torture training video.

I have no words to convey the horror. The film showed sequences of torture on living victims, men and women, all naked and shackled to what looked like a bed frame. A variety of techniques were demonstrated: cigarette burns to sensitive parts of the body, the effects of electricity, and then on into other savageries I shy from recalling. One technique shown on the film used water. The film was clearly professionally made. There was a commentary, which Ghotbzadeh translated—explaining, among other things, the varying sensitivities of men and women to different techniques, with a filmed example to illustrate each lesson. This was an instructional film. These torture sessions were not even designed to elicit information. The film was intended to teach Savak recruits.

The US backing of the Shah led eventually to the Islamic revolution in 1979, a regime as backward as the Shah’s but not US backed.

The US nudged its then proxy Saddam Hussein into declaring war on Iran, the 8 year struggle killed 1 million people (the US was also caught selling arms to the Iranians as well, to fund Central American death squads, an incident commonly known as the Iran-Contra scandal).

USA

Central and South America has long been an area which the US has operated in. A year after overthrowing the elected government of Iran, the CIA overthrow the elected government of Jacobo Arbenz in Guatemala and supported a military terror state that ruled for over 40 years. An example of the Guatemalan government cruelty can be found in Noam Chomsky & Ed Herman’s magnificent book Manufacturing Consent, a book that deals with how the media is subservient to power; it gives an account of what happened to two human rights leaders there.

On March 30th, 1985, GAM leader Hector Gomez Calito was seized, tortured, and murdered...He had been burned with a blowtorch, on the stomach and elsewhere, and beaten on the face so severely that his lips were swollen and his teeth were broken, his tongue was cut out. Then on April 4th, another leader of GAM, Maria Rosario Godoy de Cuevas, her twenty one year old brother and her two year old son were picked up, tortured, and murdered. Her breasts had bite marks and her underclothing was bloody, her two year old son had his fingernails pulled out.

In 1982 President Reagan visited Guatemala and hailed then leader General Efrain Rios Mot as a man ‘totally dedicated to democracy’.

Two years later it was estimated there were 100 political murders and 40 disappearances per month in Guatemala.

Another CIA coup took place in Chile on September 11th 1973. Left wing leader Salvador Allende had been elected in 1970, Richard Nixon was furious, he ordered the CIA to ‘make the economy scream’.

His psychopathic stooge Henry Kissinger said ‘I don’t see why we need to stand by and watch a country go communist due to the irresponsibility of its people.

The issues are much too important for the Chilean voters to be left to decide for themselves’. After a three year campaign which included the assassination of the head of the army General Rene Schneider the US got their coup, the army took over and Allende, after making one last address to the Chilean people, committed suicide.

His replacement, General Pinochet, remained a great favourite of the United States and Britain even after he was thrown out in 1990, Margaret Thatcher in particular adored him, thanking him for bringing ‘democracy to Chile’. This democracy he brought involved for example, the torture of a man by the name of Rodriguez Munoz Munoz who from February 16th-23rd 1978 was forced to eat garbage and excrement, have his head submerged in oil, electric probes subjected to his feet and testicles and being strapped to a metal grill whilst he was being given electric shocks.

There are so many other nations that suffered thanks to US support.

They supported General Suharto of Indonesia from his takeover in 1965 when he slaughtered half a million of his own people to the invasion of East Timor in 1975, which killed hundreds of thousands of people until 1999. It backed Saddam Hussein in his war with Iran, through his gassing of the Kurds up until his invasion of Kuwait.

The US then switched track, invaded then imposed sanctions that killed anything up to 1 million people, which only strengthened Saddam’s hold on Iraq. In the noughties it has fought its war on terror, bringing men to its gulag in Guantanamo Bay to be waterboarded and devastating the countries of Afghanistan and Iraq. It even reverted back to the good old days, supporting a coup to overthrow Hugo Chavez of Venezuela in 2002, until people power brought him back. The next time someone tells you America fights for democracy and freedom sniff the air, the reek of bullshit should permeate your nostrils. VIBE

SPORT

England Decides Written By Adam Bond

1the966,lastthetimeyearEngland Harold Wilson became PM; Adam Sandler was born; Star Trek was released, but also, and in my view more importantly, managed to progress to the final of a major international tournament, and go on to beat West Germany in the

final.

Since then, our national team has undergone 14 managers and not one of them has come close to emulating the success of Sir Alf Ramsey in ‘66’. We’ve had a multitude of Englishmen trying to emulate Ramsey’s success including, Peter Taylor, Howard Wilkinson and Graham Taylor.

Fabio Capello was the latest to be entrusted with the task of filling the empty space in the FA’s trophy-less cabinet. As a nation we had great expectation and optimism; we believed the 65 year old Italian would bring us the success that the English people had craved for the previous 45 years His era came to an abrupt ‘arrivederci’end on 8th February, facing the FA with finding someone to take England into a new age. It seems that the foray into the foreign manager pool is over. They released a statement that the next England manager will in fact be English/ British. The statement followed pressure from sections of fans that believed only an Englishmen would understand the pressure of the job, and be able to relate to the players, and perhaps as important, speak English. This ‘English manager for the England national team’ view (apart from the speaking English bit) is not one that I agree with. How so? Well, look at the Managers in the Premier league. My previous article demonstrated just how destitute our top flight is in terms of home-grown managers. Yes, it contains a vast amount of talented Scots, but can you really see a Scottish manager in charge of England? Or even a Welsh or Irish manager? No, I thought it to be a ridiculous idea also. So, who then? The field is a narrow one, the list a short one, the cupboard a bare one, the cereal box an empty one..you get the picture. There are currently four contenders.

The firm favourite is Tottenham’s Harry Redknapp, with some bookmakers pricing him at 1/2. He is thought to be ‘the people’s choice’ and anybody would tell you that not to secure Redknapp in the job would be seen as a colossal failure.

The next in line is not as clear cut as the people’s favourite, but it looks like being Roy Hodgson. He was strongly fancied to replace Capello following the 2010 World Cup. However, before the FA made their decision, Hodgson plumped for an ill-fated spell with Liverpool. Since then he has gone on to do a fantastic job at West Brom after a previously successful spell with Fulham. At 64 years old he shows no signs of settling down and his contract at the Baggies comes to an end just as Euro 2012 kicks-off. He may yet be the next man to lead England out at Wembley.

Then it all becomes a little less clear. We are left with Alan Pardew, Newcastle manager, age 51, who actually ruled himself out of the running in February, and Stuart Pearce, the current England caretaker manager, who incidently failed to guide England U21’s past the group stage at the European Championships. Not ideal. If it were me choosing, it would have to be Guus Hiddink. Currently at 40/1 after taking the job at Russian club Anzi, so it doesn’t look possible now, but you only have to look at his history with Australia, Russia, South Korea and Turkey. With his greatest achievement taking a South Korean side, not previously even able to register a win at 5 World Cups, to the semi-finals in 2002.

The other option, is to do what Germany did when they hosted the World Cup in 2006. This was to employ a former forward of theirs; a legend and someone seen to be rather inexperienced to lead them. That man was Jurgen Klinsmannn, and he guided Germany to 3rd place, as they were seen to be very unlucky as they lost to eventual winners, Italy in the dying minutes of Extra Time. If England were to take this route, the first person they would look to, according to bookmakers would be ‘Alan Shearer’, someone with minimal coaching experience and zero international coaching experience. He did caretake Newcastle in 2009 and was on Blackburn’s list of possibles to replace Steve Kean last year. But any future foray into management would have to at least offer him a fighting chance of success, and the England set-up would definitely not. Anyway, although, he would bring first hand player knowledge and understanding of big tournaments to the table, this would be seen as a huge risk on the FA’s part.

No one really knows who the next England manager is going to be, but whoever it is the lack of English candidates unquestionably demonstrates the lack of investment, support and structure in place to develop English coaches to compete in the top flight and international arena. VIBE

SPORT

Hillsborough Disaster Written By Stephen Carey

Adisasters s families marked the 23rd anniversary of the Hillsborough campaigners branded the awful tragedy as ‘one of the biggest injustices of the 20th century.’ Thousands of people flocked to Anfield on 15th April to remember those 96 fans who never made it home from the 1989 FA Cup semi-final.

At the memorial last month, Liverpool FC players took too their seats on the Kop to a tremendous applause just 24 hours after their win over Merseyside neighbours Everton in the FA Cup semi-final. Readings were made by Dirk Kuyt and Ian Ayre as tributes to the fans, whilst Trevor Hicks, who lost two daughters on the Leppings Lane terraces and Jim Wafer whose son died released 96 balloons moments before the singing of You’ll Never Walk Alone.

Chairman of the Hillsborough Family Support Group, Margaret Aspinall, addressed the crowd and spoke of the optimism she has that the truth will be revealed. The mother, whose son was taking away from her on that fateful day, in Sheffield, said: “Over the past 23 years, families, survivors and fans have had mud flung at them, which has been an absolute nightmare. We were the innocent victims. We just went to a football match.”

Mrs Aspinall also slammed the recent comments made by comedian Alan Davies, who sparked controversy by criticising Liverpool for refusing to play on April 15. She said: “That person should keep his comments and opinions to himself.

When comments offend and hurt so many people, it’s quite

obvious he’s got nothing else in his life to worry about like we’ve had for 23 years.” She thanked the Everton fans’ for there great support over the years and at Wembley on the 14 April, she also revealed that she received ‘nasty letters’ by fans who want to see standing areas brought back into English grounds.

Chelsea fans decided to cause controversy during their moments silence before the FA Cup semi-final against Tottenham, by interrupting the minute silence with boos and chants.

The Blues issued a statement condemning the behaviour of “a very small minority of fans” before their 5-1 win over Tottenham. A statement on the club’s official website read: “Chelsea Football Club is extremely disappointed that a very small minority of fans embarrassed the club today by not honouring the moment’s silence. Chelsea FC believes all moments of respect should be honoured and today we pay our full respects to all those that suffered as a result of the Hillsborough disaster 23 years ago. VIBE